Thursday, September 18, 2025

Five books that tackle the realities of domestic violence

Stephanie DeCarolis is a USA Today bestselling author of thriller and suspense novels. She is a graduate of Binghamton University and St. John's University School of Law, and currently lives in New York with her husband and their two daughters.

Her new novel is The Wives of Hawthorne Lane.

At CrimeReads DeCarolis tagged five books that take on domestic violence in a realistic and respectful way. One title on the list:
The Drowning Woman, by Robyn Harding

This story centers around two women who seem very different on the outside—one is wealthy and living in a mansion, and the other is unhoused and living in her car—but they soon find that they have more in common then it might appear. They form an unlikely bond, which eventually has them both forced to answer the same question: how far would you go to help a friend? What I found most realistic about the domestic violence depicted in this book was the themes of control and isolation. Both are common experiences for victims of domestic violence, and shows that not all abuse comes in the physical injuries. In addition, Harding takes on the difficult subject matter of suicide and its prevalence in victims of abuse, particularly those who experience social isolation, which can exacerbate feelings of despair or make it more difficult to ask for help.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue